There are hopes that the fifth-generation cellular technology could be a reality in India in the second half of the year, even though various reports suggest that its mass adoption could still be years away.

The government is not selling traditional 5G spectrum in the upcoming auction, the bidding for which will commence in March, but a tweak in the notice inviting applications has raised hope that companies will be able to launch 5G even on existing bands.

The amendment reduced the notice time period required for telecom companies to give to make advancements and upgrades in technology from one year to six months.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on January 28 successfully demonstrated live 5G service on a use case basis over a commercial network in Hyderabad city over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the NSA (non-standalone) network technology - that is, fall back on 4G network.

Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani last month said that Reliance Jio will pioneer India's "5G Revolution" in the second half of 2021.

"We should see some soft launches in the later part of second half this year," Neil Shah, Vice President of Research at Counterpoint Research, a global industry analysis firm, told IANS.

"The device ecosystem is ready unlike in 4G or 3G era as we are seeing average selling price (ASP) of the 5G devices already hitting sub $150 or Rs 10,000 mark in markets like China from players such as Realme, Xiaomi and others in just 12-18 months of 5G rollouts," he said.

The first quarter of 2020 witnessed the launch of the first 5G-ready smartphone in India.

At the end of Q3 2020, India's 5G handsets shipments stood at 1.7 million, a number which was projected to cross four million by the end of 2020, according to Counterpoint.

However, several reports have suggested that mass adoption of 5G would not be immediate.

According to a forecast by GSMA Intelligence, published in October 2020, 5G connections in India will reach only six per cent of the total population by 2025 and 93 per cent by 2040.

Swedish gear maker Ericsson in a report in November 2020 said that 5G subscriptions in India will surpass 350 million, accounting for 27 per cent of all mobile subscriptions in 2026.

While globally, more than one billion people were estimated to have access to 5G coverage by the end of 2020, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report.

While security is a major concern in 5G roll out, participation of vendors like Huawei and ZTE in building India's 5G infrastructure could also play a role in faster adoption of the technology in the country.

(IANS)